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Background: Prior to the coming of the Spanish in the 16th century, northern Chile was under Inca rule while Araucanian Indians inhabited central and southern Chile; the latter were not completely subjugated until the early 1880s. Although Chile declared its independence in 1810, decisive victory over the Spanish was not achieved until 1818. In the War of the Pacific (1879-84), Chile defeated Peru and Bolivia and won its present northern lands. A three-year-old Marxist government of Salvador ALLENDE was overthrown in 1973 by a dictatorial military regime led by Augusto PINOCHET, who ruled until a freely elected president was installed in 1990. Sound economic policies, maintained consistently since the 1980s, have contributed to steady growth and have helped secure the country's commitment to democratic and representative government. Chile has increasingly assumed regional and international leadership roles befitting its status as a stable, democratic nation.

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By penfold6
February 10th 2008

Free Booze and Top Notch Entertainment

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Puerto Montt

View of Coquimbo

On Wednesday we arrived in Puerto Montt to a temperature of around 12c but by midday this had crept up to around mid 20's. Puerto Montt has a population of around 175,000 and is one of southern Chile's most important cities and the capital of the tenth region. It is situated on the northern shore of the Bahia de Puerto Montt, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean. Just a short distance from the city are the volcanoes, lakes, forests and mountains of the Lake District, one of the country's most beautiful regions. A few facts for you; The United Kingdom is [View Full Entry]

By madcowinsam
February 2nd 2008

The (long and winding) route to Chonchi

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Chiloé Island

Futuleufu high street

After walking in El Chalten, our next destination was Chonchi on Chiloe Island, Chile- chosen for its comedy name (Nic we were particularly thinking of you with this one!) and the local mythology of pirates and witches. The guidebook was a bit vague on the area between El Chalten and Chonchi, so we weren´t entirely sure that we would get there. The first leg was a 24 hour bus journey to Esquel, through the cherry capital of Argentina (which had completely run out of icecream, though was fortunately still fine for cherries). The journey was much enhanced by the sound of [View Full Entry]

Loading up for 7am departure from Futaleufu

By TrevandLiz
January 30th 2008

Pisco Barge up the Chilean Coast

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Puerto Montt

The United Nations
Of Colorado, Germany, and Wisconsin

After 88 long-distance buses, we decided to enjoy Chile's coastal cordillera by boat. The Navimag is an industrial ferry carting cars and livestock beneath the deck, so it´s more a freight ferry than a cruise ship. But it´s also equipped with beds and a bar for a beautiful ride through the channel from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt full of sights unseen from the roads. We decided it would be a great way to continue our Patagonia exploration and also recover after hiking 90 miles in 7 days through Torres del Paine. We boarded the boat with 200 other people from [View Full Entry]

By Anglo Dutch connection goes Latin
January 27th 2008

PUERTO MONTT AND NAVIMAG

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Puerto Montt

German settlers of Puerto Montt
Dutchman among German settlers

After a fun filed Xmas and NY, it was time to head back to Chile. We flew back into Santiago, spent a couple of days recuperating then made a 12hour bus journey (1,016KM) south to Puerto Montt. The only reason for going there was to catch the NAVIMAG ferry to Puerto Natales. It has very distinctive features, located amidst snow covered volcanoes which can be seen from the city centre, the city centre itself represents a European style-architect, due to it´s early German settlers who arrived in 1852 . They even have a German club... that suddenly closed when we tried [View Full Entry]

By Tina B
January 27th 2008

Valporaiso down to Puerto Montt

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Puerto Montt

Valporaiso

Valporaiso is described as unique and unusual by our guide book, but it didn´t really grab us as a great place. It was unusual in that it has 15 funicular´s which go up and down the steepish slopes of the town but that was about it. We had a good time though, and had a hostel with a kitchen which we made full use of, cooking dinner for ourselves. There was free internet, so we made full use of that as well and booked quite a few things for New Zealand which is our next country. After Valporaiso we went to [View Full Entry]

By Gcat
January 23rd 2008

Puerto Varas

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Puerto Varas

Puerto Varas and Area
View from our Hotel bedroom window in PV of Lake Llanquihue

PV has been our base for a couple of days, but apart from the views of the mountains and Lake Llanquihue it is really only a staging post for the trips through the lakes and the mountains and volcanos. There is nothing else remarkable about it although it presents itself as the tourist centre of Patagonia north. At breakfast in the hotel we bumped into our ex GP from Ponteland - Dr Anthony Kay plus wife who were on a Patagonian tour. Double takes all round Having 'done 'the Town in a couple of hours we invested €1 on one of [View Full Entry]

By jimp
January 21st 2008

Chiloe

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Chiloé Island

Peguin Island
The two types of peguins both breed on the same island(far right island) the only place in the world they are known to mate in the same place...Interesting I know..

I hopped on a bus to the Island of Chiloe to see some peguins and to try some fresh fish that Chile is so known for.. When I arrived at Ancud I found it to be a ghost town.. I went to three different hostels to see if there were any guest and they were all empty. I would have left but I had booked a round trip bus ticket and was not able to change it (I guess thats why it was such a good deal). I spent a day wandering around the town and then a half day in [View Full Entry]

By Gcat
January 21st 2008

Crossing the Andes

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Peulla

Crossing The Andes
This is a shot of some backpackers at Bariloche bus station. Hope it reminds Laura & Tommy of a past life!

A dawn call followed by a taxi trip to the bus station in Bariloche to join the great unwashed backpackers waiting for buses to various destinations ( a photo of a small group is shown here to remind Laura of her travels!) After a chaotic check in we were assigned a bus to drive to a local port to catch a catamaran to Puerto Blest - a magnificent cruise between the mountains of the Andes (Sud). Our group were offloaded in a National Park to take a short trk to see a 500 year old tree! and waterfalls and a lake! [View Full Entry]

By Prolificity
January 16th 2008

A Preface for the Blog

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Puerto Montt

This is a second attempt at a travel blog, the first having been accidentally deleted by me in late March. Without notes or a backup, I have done my best to recount my travel and experiences, though perhaps with slightly less enthusiasm this round. Let´s call this experiment my way of putting out into the public domain the highlights of this particular tour, to both avoid repeating myself in emails to everyone and to keep for future reference. My earlier blog had more opinion and the like, but in this increasingly digitized world, I would rather express more personal, or political [View Full Entry]

By Ruth from Wales
January 11th 2008

Chilean Chiloe

South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Chiloé Island

Navimag Glacier 1

So, we left Puerto Natales in Chilean Patagonia on a 3 day/4 night Navimag ferry which took us north through the Chilean "fjords" eventually arriving at Puerto Montt. The ferry trip was fun: we spent most evenings playing cards and drinking pisco sours with Pete, our Australian friend from Antarctica (if you see what I mean). The daytimes were spent reading, standing out on deck and complaining about the quality of the food! This was no luxury cruise, but definitely a more enjoyable experience than taking a plane. The days passed by quickly and we arrived early on a monday morning [View Full Entry]

Pacific Ocean seen from Chiloe National Park

Travel Blog » South America » Chile » Los Lagos